[draft]
Millburn tower
Glasgow, – Howard St
March 16. 62
I am desirs t show evy courtesy, both to yrsf, & to evyon of the Emint publrs, who I know have invested considble sums in the productn of beautiful works – But I think when I have explaind my wishes on this subjt I hope to obtain yr cordl assistce – You are an admirer & patron of photy – of wch art I am the inventor. I have recly made anor inventn, namely that of engraving upon Steel & copperplate, by photc means alone –
Evidly such an invn, if succful wd be of immense great advantage to publishers, – because it wd dispse wh a great outlay. Works illustd wth many engravings are now neccessy dear, but they might be made cheap enough to command a more large circuln – You must be aware that nothg is easier than to obtain any no of good photographs
The mere printg of ordiny engravgs costs little, but the Engravers charges are vy heavy –
The engravg can now be effected by photoc.y means but the questn is, whether the result is perfect enough to satisfy persons of good taste. For that the ppose of ascertng this, I propose to engrave a certn no of specimens & show them to artists & publishers and ask for their opinns & advise, & their estimate of the merits & defects of the process.
The subjects selected for engraving ought to possess a certn degree of interest, otherwise that the trial wd not be a fair one. I think the Egn viewsv are both interesting & well executed – It is on that account alone that I thought of making trial of some of them,
You are aware that there is no difficult in procuring any no of photographs the authors producers of wch dispersed over ½ the world are for the most part unknown – but many of these represent scenes of no particular interest.
[illegible deletion]
I think am of the opinn that photoghs ought to be protected by law – at present they are not, though paintings & drawings are, and engravings fm photoghs would be.
However, not withstng this you may rest assured that I have no wish to sell a single copy of anything produced by my inventn, without your assent, w ch I think All I propose to do is to give a few copies to men of science & artists, no public & perhaps to hang up 11 or 2 in the Gt Exhibn, among my others of wch I am going to exhibit a collectn.
Laying aside for the moment the questn of these particr views, I wish to point out, that any book of travel might now be published, illustd by a considble no, say 20 or 30 octavo plates representg scenery & buildings of wch the traveler himself has brought home photographs – (& therefore their accuracy wd far surpass the ordinary illustrations of books of travels) at an expense only a trifle greater than the same sort of work now sells for without engravings. Conseqly unless I am much deceived, such a book wd command a much larger sale.
I wish you wd have the goodness to consider whether you wd not like to assist & patronize such an undertaking. Some of the finest phtps I can see have been sent to me fm Paris, for the express purpose of testing the value of this.
abcde
[expanded version:]
Millburn tower <1>
Glasgow, – Howard Street
March 16. 1862
I am desirous to show every courtesy, both to yourself, and to every one of the Eminent publishers, who I know have invested considerable sums in the production of beautiful works – But I think when I have explained my wishes on this subject I hope to obtain your cordial assistance – You are an admirer and patron of photography – of which art I am the inventor. I have recently made another invention, namely that of engraving upon Steel and copperplate, <2> by photographic means alone –
Evidently such an invention, if successful would be of immense great advantage to publishers, – because it would dispense with a great outlay. Works illustrated with many engravings are now neccessarily dear, but they might be made cheap enough to command a more large circulation – You must be aware that nothing is easier than to obtain any number of good photographs
The mere printing of ordinary engravings costs little, but the Engravers charges are very heavy –
The engraving can now be effected by photograph yic means but the question is, whether the result is perfect enough to satisfy persons of good taste. For that the purpose of ascertaining this, I propose to engrave a certain number of specimens and show them to artists and publishers and ask for their opinions and advise, and their estimate of the merits and defects of the process.
The subjects selected for engraving ought to possess a certain degree of interest, otherwise that the trial would not be a fair one. I think the Egyptian views <3> are both interesting and well executed – It is on that account alone that I thought of making trial of some of them,
You are aware that there is no difficult in procuring any number of photographs the authors producers of which dispersed over half the world are for the most part unknown – but many of these represent scenes of no particular interest.
[illegible deletion]
I think am of the opinion that photographs ought to be protected by law – at present they are not, though paintings and drawings are, and engravings from photographs would be.
However, not withstanding this you may rest assured that I have no wish to sell a single copy of anything produced by my invention, without your assent, which I think All I propose to do is to give a few copies to men of science and artists, no public and perhaps to hang up one or two in the Great Exhibition, <4> among my others of which I am going to exhibit a collection.
Laying aside for the moment the question of these particular views, I wish to point out, that any book of travel might now be published, illustrated by a considerable number, say twenty or thirty octavo plates representing scenery and buildings of which the traveler himself has brought home photographs – (and therefore their accuracy would far surpass the ordinary illustrations of books of travels) at an expense only a trifle greater than the same sort of work now sells for without engravings. Consequently unless I am much deceived, such a book would command a much larger sale.
I wish you would have the goodness to consider whether you would not like to assist and patronize such an undertaking. Some of the finest photographs <5> I can see have been sent to me from Paris, for the express purpose of testing the value of this.
abcde <6>
Notes:
1. Millburn Tower, Gogar, just west of Edinburgh; the Talbot family made it their northern home from June 1861 to November 1863. It is particularly important because WHFT conducted many of his photoglyphic engraving experiments there. The house had a rich history. Built for Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), an 1805 design by Benjamin Latrobe for a round building was contemplated but in 1806 a small house was built to the design of William Atkinson (1773-1839), best known for Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford. The distinctive Gothic exterior was raised in 1815 and an additional extension built in 1821. Liston had been ambassador to the United States and maintained a warm Anglo-American relationship in the years 1796-1800. His wife, the botanist Henrietta Liston, née Marchant (1751-1828) designed a lavish American garden, sadly largely gone by the time the Talbots rented the house .
2. WHFT's ‘Photoglyphic Engraving’.
3. Possibly photographs by Francis Frith (1822–1898), photographer and photographic publisher. Frith had made his first expedition to the Middle East in 1855, the results of which were published as Egypt and Palaestine (London: J.S. Virtue, 1857); later he published a similar material with MacKenzie in Egypt, Sinai and Jerusalem (London: William MacKenzie, 1860). [See also Doc. No: 08531].
4. The 1862 International Exhibition, South Kensington, London.
5. See for instance Doc. No: 07057.
6. Pen test.